just ten days now until pope benedict steps down. and the common assumption has always been there will never be an american pope. but it's changing. do we have the candidate now who may just do it? abc's david wright tells us. >> reporter: cardinal sean o'malley is a prince of the church who lives like a pauper. even his clothes set him apart from the other men in red. "cardinal sean," as he likes to be called, wears the simple brown robes of a monk, tied with a rope. plus sandals, even during winter in boston. >> he's a holy man. a man of simplicity. and wouldn't that be a lovely thing to have in a pope? >> reporter: the boston archdiocese he inherited was badly tainted by the church sexual abuse scandal. o'malley sold off the cardinal's residence to pay the victims and moved into a single room near the cathedral. he put the victims first. the church has not always been so responsive. >> any new pope is going to have to look at the issue and speak to it. >> reporter: here in rome, there's long been an unwritten rule -- no pope from